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Base configuration

During installation, users require a valid username, password, and the File Director server name. The installation wizard walks through the steps required to successfully connect to a File Director server. Many administrators may want to automate this, or roll the required settings into any base image.

In this section:

Setup

The table below contains the recommended minimum items an administrator should configure to enable a user to successfully logon to a File Director service.

Values Description
Value Name: DataNowBaseFolder Value Type: REG_SZ The location under which all File Director map points appear for the user. If using In-location Sync, the option must still be specified but this path is only used to contain shared map points. The full path is required, for example: %USERPROFILE%\File Director

If you apply these settings using Environment Manager, you must double-escape any environment variables - for example, %%USERPROFILE%%.

Value Name: DataNowServer Value Type: REG_SZ The URL of the server including the protocol. For example, https://dn.domain.com. DataNowPort must be appropriate for the protocol.
Value Name: DataNowPort Value Type: REG_DWORD Default Value: 443 Minimum Value: 1 Maximum Value: 99999 The port used for communication with the server. This must match the scheme used in the server address. For example, for HTTPS, port 443.
Note, DataNowPort must be appropriate for the protocol as defined inDataNowServer.
Value Name: Username Value Type: REG_SZ Set the username for users. This can be in one of three formats: You can use environment variables to set the username for all users according to their login credentials:
  • UPN – %USERNAME%@%USERDNSDOMAIN%
  • DNS Name – %USERDNSDOMAIN%\%USERNAME%
  • DNS Short Name – %USERDOMAIN%\%USERNAME%

In the case where EnableSSO is set to 1 (NTLM), the Username value must be configured. It must also be in UPN format for SSO to work. This is commonly defined using environment variables under HKLM, i.e. %USERNAME%@%USERDNSDOMAIN%
The Username value is not required for Kerberos (EnableSSO = 2).

User and Profile Options

Other basic configuration items available to administrators enable changes to the File Director file overlays and tray notifications.

Values Description
Value Name: DataNowOverlayMask Value Type: REG_DWORD

The overlays that are displayed on endpoints.

By default, all masks are enabled. It is possible to disable or re-enable any combination of masks using Hexadecimal or Decimal values.

  • Pending - The file is not in sync and requires synchronization
    Decimal value: 2
  • Synchronized - The file is in sync (up-to-date)
    Decimal value: 4
  • Synchronizing - The file is being synchronized
    Decimal value: 8
  • User action - User action is required (this includes file conflicts)
    Decimal value: 16
  • Base folder - The 'File Director' icon will be overlaid on the base folder
    Decimal value: 32
  • Home folder - The 'home' icon will be overlaid on the home map-point folder
    Decimal value: 64
  • ReadOnly folder - The 'read only' icon will be overlaid on a read-only map-point folder
    Decimal value: 128
  • Shared folder - The 'shared' icon will be overlaid on a non read-only, non-home online map-point folder
    Decimal value: 256
  • Offline folder - The 'offline' icon will be overlaid on an offline map-point folder
    Decimal value: 512

To disable a particular overlay subtract its decimal value from the default value and enter the sum in the Value data field within the engineering key. As of File Director 2020.1 the default Decimal value is 2014.

Example: to disable the User action overlay, subtract 16 from the default value of 2014. Enter 1998 as the value data.

Offline ghost icon overlay was introduced in File Director 2020.1 (further information). When upgrading, the DataNowOverlayMask engineering key value remains unchanged so the new overlay will not be visible. To view it, manually delete the DataNowOverlayMask key value from the HCKU. Next time the user logs in to File Director the new default value is written to the registry.

This manual process is not required for new installations of File Director, or upgrades performed via Management Center.

Note, the DataNowOverlayMask setting controls the icon overlays displayed in Windows Explorer; it does not affect their installation or registration.

Value Name: DataNowShowStatusUpdates Value Type: REG_DWORD

Balloon notifications appear in the system tray and typically show error messages. Only unrecoverable errors are shown in this way, such as attempting to sync a file to a map point that no longer exists or has been made read only by the administrator.

No value or any non-zero value enables notifications, a value of 0 (zero) disables notifications.

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